Despite the mass of books written in recent years about the service of men during the Great War, the contribution of women has never proved popular as a subject of serious study. This new book by Norman Gooding is a most welcome addition and a complement to his previous volume 'Honours and Awards to Women to 1914' (2007).
The introduction outlines the background to the award, and includes details of the ensuing controversy around the wishes of the Canadian authorities that their nurses were entitled to rather more in the way of awards than those of other nations. There is a thorough biography of every woman attached to the British and Dominion Forces who received the Military Medal, most with photographs and all with citations and background detail. This is followed by a section on those awards that were not announced in the London Gazette, mainly to foreign nationals, and lastly a section on awards of the Military Medal made in the years following the end of the Great War.
The book is meticulously researched and brings together at last the mass of scattered information which has previously been so difficult to gather in one place. It will prove a most useful and complete reference guide for anyone researching women's service during the Great War and a fitting tribute to the contribution they made.
HONOURS AND AWARDS TO WOMEN - THE MILITARY MEDAL
Norman G. Gooding
Savannah Publications, 2013
9 781902 366562
As I'm in Australia, would it be possible to know if South Australian AANS Staff nurse Elizabeth Jean Magarey was awarded the Military Medal by the British government during WW1. Would her name be in the book? I have a set of miniatures supposedly belonging to her and her family states she was awarded the MM but there is no record of this here.
ReplyDeleteNo, sorry, she's not included - I think you can be quite certain that no-one of that name was awarded the Military Medal during the Great War.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sue. All other checks confirm this. Either her family were given false information or her family have in fact been giving out false information. Much obliged for the information.
ReplyDelete